Department of Homeland Security

Natural gas pipeline operators in the United States have reportedly been the target of sophisticated phishing attacks since last year, and the Department of Homeland Security has been helping firms deal with incidents since March. “DHS’s Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team has been working since March 2012 with critical infrastructure owners and operators in the oil and natural gas sector to address a series of cyber intrusions targeting natural gas pipeline companies,” DHS spokesman Peter Boogaard told CNET on Tuesday. “The cyber intrusion involves sophisticated spear-phishing activities targeting personnel within the private companies. DHS is coordinating with the FBI and appropriate federal agencies, and ICS-CERT is working with affected organizations to prepare mitigation plans customized to their current network and security configurations to detect, mitigate and prevent such threats.” More →

An unaffiliated group of pro-WikiLeaks hackers calling itself “Anoymous” finds itself short a few member this evening as multiple alleged culprits were arrested on Thursday in the U.K. The BBC reports that five men were arrested in a series of raids, and they are being held in various locations across England. Allegations against the men are described as “recent and ongoing attacks by an online group that calls itself ‘Anonymous’.” The two adults and three teenagers were allegedly involved with a series ofDDoS attacks carried out last year, aimed at various websites the group felt stood in opposition of notorious news agency WikiLeaks and its famed leader Julian Assange. Targets included websites belonging to Amazon, Visa, Mastercard and Paypal. This is not the first time arrests have been made in connection with Anonymous’ attacks; two Dutch teenagers allegedly involved with the group were arrested last year, but charges were never formally filed against them. More →

A global, ever-expanding team of hackers called “Anonymous” has announced its next target in a series of cyberattacks that have taken down multiple websites over the past few days. Among its targets were the websites of both Visa and Mastercard following news that the institutions would cease delivery of funds that had been donated to WikiLeaks. Using Twitter to announce the attack, the group is preparing to take down Amazon.com, presumably due to the company’s abrupt cancellation of its hosting agreement with WikiLeaks after being pressured by the Department of Homeland Security. The attack on Amazon.com will begin at 11:00am Eastern.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Amazon.com may have ended its hosting agreement with controversial website WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks returned to the spotlight recently when it published a bevy of confidential diplomatic cables. Following the release, dubbed “Cable Gate,” WikiLeaks fell under cyberattacks and has been offline sporadically all week. According to the official WikiLeaks Twitter account, DDOS attacks that exceeded 10Gbps targeted the site earlier this week. While the origin of the alleged attacks remains unknown, WikiLeaks has reportedly been taken offline by its host, Amazon.com. Though the site’s homepage remains live, all subdomains appear to be down. Amazon.com did not confirm or deny the AP’s report.

UPDATE: According to a statement from Senator Joe Lieberman, Homeland Security Committee Chairman, Amazon.com has agreed to stop hosting WikiLeaks. More →

If you didn’t already think the people behind the RIAA and MPAA were insane, we’re positive that your opinion on them will change as soon as your read what the two associations have proposed in a recent letter to the Office of Intellectual Property Enforcement. Here are but some of the changes the two have asked for:

The installation of spyware on computers which would seek out and automatically delete illegally obtained media

Censorship of the internet which would block the transfer of illegal files